Disc with temporary disc definition structure (TDDS) and temporary defect list (TDFL), and method of and apparatus for managing defect in the same

ABSTRACT

A disc with a temporary defect management information area and a defect management area includes a defect management area that is present in at least one of a lead-in area, a lead-out area, and an outer area, a temporary defect information area which is formed in the data area and in which temporary defect information is recorded, and a temporary defect management information area which is present in at least one of the lead-in area, and the lead-out area. Accordingly, it is possible to record user data in a recordable disc, especially, a write-once disc, while performing defect management thereon, thereby enabling efficient use of a defect management area having a limited recording capacity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/638,555, filed Aug. 12, 2003, now pending, which claims the benefitof Korean Patent Application Nos. 2002-47513 and 2002-47514, both filedon Aug. 12, 2002 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to disc defect management, and moreparticularly, to a disc in which a temporary defect managementinformation area and a temporary management area are formed, and amethod and apparatus for managing a defect in such a disc.

2. Description of the Related Art

Defect management is performed to allow a user to rewrite user data of aportion of a user data area in which a defect occurs in a new portion ofthe user data area of a disc, thereby compensating for a loss in datacaused by the defect. In general, defect management is performed usinglinear replacement or slipping replacement methods. In the linearreplacement method, a user data area in which a defect occurs isreplaced with a spare data area having no defects. In the slippingreplacement method, a user data area having a defect is slipped to usethe next user data area having no defects.

Both linear replacement and slipping replacement methods are applicableonly to discs such as a DVD-RAM/RW on which data can be repeatedlyrecorded and recording can be performed using a random access method. Inother words, the conventional linear replacement and slippingreplacement methods cannot be applied to write-once discs on whichrecording is allowed only once. In general, the presence of defects in adisc is checked by recording data on the disc and confirming whether thedata can be recorded on the disc. However, once the data is recorded ona write-once disc, it is impossible to overwrite new data and managedefects therein.

Meanwhile, after the development of CD-R and DVD-R, a high-densitywrite-once disc having a recording capacity of several dozen of GB hasbeen introduced. This type of disc can be used as a backup disc since itis not expensive and allows random access, which enables fast readingoperations. However, defect management is not available for write-oncediscs. Therefore, a backup operation is discontinued when a defectivearea (i.e., an area where a defect occurs) is detected during the backupoperation because defect management on a write-once disc cannot beperformed.

In general, the backup operation is performed when a system is notfrequently used. Thus, backup operations are often performed at nightwhen a system manager does not operate the system. In this case, it ismore likely that the backup operation will be stopped because adefective area of a write-once disc is detected and the backup operationfor the system will therefore not be performed in a reliable manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a write-once disc with a data structurewhich allows defect management, and a method of and apparatus formanaging a defect in such a disc.

The present invention also provides a write-once disc with a datastructure which allows defect management even if a defect occurs on thedisc during recording operations, thereby rendering successful recordingoperations, and a method of and apparatus for managing a defect in adisc having the defect management.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a disc includes adefect management area in at least one of a lead-in area, a lead-outarea, and an outer area; a temporary defect information area in a dataarea and in which temporary defect information is recorded; and atemporary defect management information area in at least one of thelead-in area, and the lead-out area.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording defect informationregarding data recorded in a recording operation, and defect informationregarding data recorded in a previous recording operation as firsttemporary defect information in a data area of the disc; and recordingthe first temporary defect information and defect information regardingdata recorded in a next recording operation as second temporary defectinformation in the data area.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording defect informationregarding data recorded in a data area of the disc according to a firstrecording operation, defect information regarding data recorded in thedata area according to a second recording operation, defect informationregarding data recorded in the data area according to an n−1^(st)recording operation, and defect information regarding data recorded inthe data area according to an n^(th) recording operation, as n^(th)temporary defect information in the data area; and recording defectmanagement information for managing the n^(th) temporary defectinformation as n^(th) temporary defect management information in atemporary defect management information area, where n is an integer.

It is preferable, but not required, that the method further includesrecording a last recorded temporary defect information and temporarydefect management information in a defect management area duringfinalization of the disc.

It is preferable, but not required, that the recording n^(th) temporarydefect information includes recording the data in a predetermined unit;verifying the recorded data to detect an area of the disc in which adefect exists; storing in a memory information for designating an areacovering the area having the defect and data recorded after the areahaving the defect as a defective area; recording the data in apredetermined unit after the defective area; repeating verifying andstoring at least once; and reading the information from the memory andrecording the read information in an n^(th) temporary defect informationarea of the data area when an n^(th) recording operation is to end.

It is more preferable, but not required that the recording the n^(th)temporary defect information further includes recording information fordesignating the n^(th) temporary defect information area as a defectivearea in the n^(th) temporary defect information area.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording unit that records data in a data area ofa disc according to a recording operation; and a controller thatcontrols the recording unit to record defect information regarding data,which is recorded in a data area according to a recording operation, astemporary defect information in the data area and record temporarydefect management information for managing the temporary defectinformation in a temporary defect management information area in atleast one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area of the disc.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording unit that records data on a disc; and acontroller that controls the recording unit to record defect informationregarding data recorded in a data area of the disc according to a firstrecording operation through an n^(th) recording operation as n^(th)temporary defect information in the data area; and controls therecording unit to record defect management information for managing then^(th) temporary defect information as n^(th) temporary defectmanagement information in a temporary defect management information areawhere n is an integer.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a discincludes a defect management area in at least one of a lead-in area anda lead-out area; a temporary defect information area that is in a dataarea and in which temporary defect information is recorded; a temporarydefect management information area that is in at least one of thelead-in area and the lead-out area and in which temporary defectmanagement information for managing the temporary defect information isrecorded; and a defect management area that is formed in at least one ofthe lead-in area and the lead-out area and in which are recordedtemporary defect information last recorded in the temporary defectinformation area and temporary defect management information lastrecorded in the temporary defect management information area.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a discincludes a defect management area in at least one of a lead-in area, alead-out area, and an outer area; a temporary defect information areathat is in a data area and in which temporary defect information isrecorded; a temporary defect management information area that is in thelead-in area, the lead-out area, and an outer area and in which isrecorded temporary defect management information; and a defectmanagement area that is in the lead-in area, the lead-out area, and theouter area and in which temporary defect information last recorded inthe temporary defect information area and temporary defect managementinformation last recorded in the temporary defect management informationarea are recorded.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording defect informationregarding data recorded in a data area for every recording operation astemporary defect information in the data area; recording defectmanagement information for managing the temporary defect information astemporary defect management information in a temporary defect managementinformation area in at least one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area;and recording the temporary defect information and the temporary defectmanagement information in a defect management area formed in at leastone of the lead-in area and the lead-out area, during finalization ofthe disc.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording as n^(th) temporarydefect information in the data area defect information regarding datarecorded in a data area of the disc according to a first recordingoperation, defect information regarding data recorded in the data areaaccording to a second recording operation, defect information regardingdata recorded in the data area according to an n−1^(st) recordingoperation, and defect information regarding data recorded in the dataarea according to an n^(th) recording operation; recording defectmanagement information for managing the n^(th) temporary defectinformation as n^(th) temporary defect management information in atemporary defect management information area, where n is an integer, andrecording a last recorded temporary defect information and temporarydefect management information in a defect management area duringfinalization of the disc.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording unit that records data in a data area ofa disc according to a recording operation; and a controller thatcontrols the recording unit to record defect information regarding therecorded data as temporary defect information in the data area; controlsthe recording unit to record defect management information for managingthe temporary defect information as temporary defect managementinformation in a temporary defect management information area that is inat least one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area of the disc; andcontrols the recording unit to record the temporary defect informationand temporary defect management information in a defect management areathat is formed in at least one of the lead-in area and the lead-outarea.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording unit that records data in a data area ofa disc according to first through n^(th) recording operations; and acontroller that controls the recording unit to record defect informationregarding the data recorded according to the first recording throughn^(th) recording operations as n^(th) temporary defect information inthe data area; controls the recording unit to record defect managementinformation for managing the n^(th) temporary defect information asn^(th) temporary defect management information in a temporary defectmanagement information area; and controls the recording unit to record alast recorded temporary defect information and temporary defectmanagement information in a defect management area, where n is aninteger.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a discincludes a defect management area in at least one of a lead-in area anda lead-out area; a temporary defect information area that is in a dataarea and in which temporary defect information is recorded; and atemporary defect management information area that is formed in at leastone of the lead-in area and the lead-out area and in which temporarydefect management information for managing the temporary defectinformation is recorded, and wherein the temporary defect informationand the temporary defect management information are recorded again whena disc defect is detected using a verify-after-write method.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a discincludes a defect management area in at least one of a lead-in area anda lead-out area; a temporary defect information area that is in a dataarea and in which is recorded temporary defect information; and atemporary defect management information area that is in at least one ofthe lead-in area, the lead-out area, and the outer area and in which isrecorded temporary defect management information is recorded, where thelast recorded temporary defect information that was last recorded in thetemporary defect information area and the last recorded temporary defectmanagement information that was last recorded in the temporary defectmanagement information area are recorded in the defect management areaduring finalization of the disc, and the temporary defect informationand the temporary defect management information are recorded again inthe temporary defect information area and the temporary defectmanagement information area, respectively, when a disc defect isdetected using the verify-after-write method.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording as temporary defectinformation in a data area defect information regarding data recorded inthe data area for every recording operation; recording defect managementinformation for managing the temporary defect information in a temporarydefect management information area in at least one of a lead-in area anda lead-out area; and performing a verify-after-write method on at leastone of the temporary defect information and the temporary defectmanagement information and recording the temporary defect informationand the temporary defect management information again when a disc defectis detected.

It is preferable, but not required, that the method further includesrecording the temporary defect information and the temporary defectmanagement information in a defect management area in the lead-in areaand the lead-out area.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanaging a defect in a disc includes recording as n^(th) temporarydefect information in a data area defect information regarding datarecorded in the data area of the disc according to a first recordingoperation, defect information regarding data recorded in the data areaaccording to a second recording operation, defect information regardingdata recorded in the data area according to an n−1^(st) recordingoperation, and defect information regarding data recorded in the dataarea according to an n^(th) recording operation; recording defectmanagement information for managing the n^(th) temporary defectinformation as n^(th) temporary defect management information in atemporary defect management information area; and performing averify-after-write method on at least one of the n^(th) temporary defectinformation and the n^(th) temporary defect management information andrecording the n^(th) temporary defect information and the n^(th)temporary defect management information again when a disc defect isdetected, where n is an integer.

It is preferable, but not required, that the method further includesrecording a last recorded temporary defect information and temporarydefect management information in a defect management area duringfinalization of the disc.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording/reading unit which records data on orreads data from a data area of a disc; and a controller which controlsthe recording/reading unit to record as temporary defect information inthe data area defect information regarding the data recorded on the discaccording to a recording operation and to record defect managementinformation for managing the temporary defect information as temporarydefect management information in a temporary defect managementinformation area in at least one of a lead-in area and a lead-out area;performs a verify-after-write method on at least one of the temporarydefect information and temporary defect management information; andcontrols the recording/reading unit to record the temporary defectinformation and temporary defect management information when a discdefect is detected.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a recordingapparatus includes a recording unit that records data on a data area ofa disc; and a controller that controls the recording unit to record asn^(th) temporary defect information in the data area defect informationregarding the data recorded in the data area of the disc according tofirst through n^(th) recording operations as n^(th) temporary defectinformation in the data area; controls the recording unit to recorddefect management information for managing the n^(th) temporary defectinformation as n^(th) temporary defect management information in atemporary defect management information area; performs averify-after-write method on at least one of the n^(th) temporary defectinformation and the n^(th) temporary defect management information; andcontrols the recording unit to record the n^(th) temporary defectinformation and the n^(th) temporary defect management information againwhen a disc defect is detected, where n is an integer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects and/or advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated bydescribing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording and/or reproducing apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate structures of discs according to embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a structure of the discs shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B;

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the structure of the disc shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a process of recording a temporarydefect list (TDFL) of the structure shown in FIG. 4 according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate data structures of a TDFL according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate the data structure of defect #i contained ina TDFL and the data structure of the TDFL shown in FIG. 4 according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates the data structure of a temporary disc definitionstructure (TDDS) #i shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 illustrates the data structure of the TDFL #i shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 illustrates a data structure of a disc definition structure(DDS) according to an embodiment of the invention for use in a discshown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 illustrates a data structure of a defect list (DFL) according toan embodiment of the invention for use in a disc shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a defect in adisc according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a defect in adisc according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a defect in adisc according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording and/or reproducing apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.1, the recording apparatus includes a recording/reading unit 1, acontroller 2, and a memory 3. The recording/reading unit 1 recordsand/or reproduces data with respect to a disc 100, which is anembodiment of an information storage medium. When recording the data,the recording/reading unit 1 reads the data from the disc 100 so as toverify the accuracy of the recorded data. The controller 2 performsdefect management according to an embodiment of the present invention.According to an embodiment, the controller 2 uses a verify-after-writemethod in which the data is recorded on the disc 100 in predeterminedunits and a defect on the disc 100 is detected by verifying the accuracyof the recorded data.

After recording of the data in the predetermined units, the controller 2records information which indicates the position of a defective area ofthe disc 100. The information is recorded as temporary defectinformation on the disc 100. Also, the controller 2 records on the disc100 management information, which is information used to manage thetemporary defect information. The management information is recorded astemporary defect management information. Here, the predeterminedrecording unit may be a recording operation that is a unit of workdetermined according to user's intention or a type of recording work tobe performed. According to this embodiment, a recording operationindicates a process in which the disc 100 is loaded into the recordingapparatus, data is recorded on the disc 100, and the disc 100 is takenout from the recording apparatus. However, it is understood that therecording operation can be otherwise defined. For instance, therecording operation can be defined according to a recording time or anamount of data that is recorded as opposed to or in addition to when auser inserts or removes a disc.

During the recording operation, data is recorded and verified at leastonce. According to an embodiment, when a user presses an eject button(not shown) of the recording apparatus in order to bring out the disc100 after recording the data, the controller 2 expects the recordingoperation to be terminated. Next, the controller 2 creates the temporarydefect information and temporary defect management information andprovides the information to the recording/reading unit 1 to be recordedon the disc 100. The temporary defect information, which is obtained asa result of the recording and verifying by the controller 2, is storedin the memory 3. However, the verification can be performed at othertimes during recording.

If the recording of data on the disc 100 is completed (i.e., no moredata will be recorded on the disc 100 and the disc 100 is finalized, thecontroller 2 records the temporary defect information and the temporarydefect management information in a defect management area (DMA) of thedisc 100.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate structures of the disc 100 according toembodiments of the present invention. In detail, FIG. 2A illustrates adisc 100 that is a single record layer disc having a record layer L0.The disc 100 includes a lead-in area, a data area, and a lead-out area.The lead-in area is located in an inner part of the disc 100 and thelead-out area is located in an outer part of the disc 100. The data areais present between the lead-in area and the lead-out area and is dividedinto a user data area and a spare area. The user data area is an area inwhich the user data is recorded. The spare area is a substitute area fora portion of the user data area having a defect in order to compensatefor a loss in a recording area due to the defect.

It is preferable, but not required in all aspects, that the spare areaincludes 5% of the entire data capacity of the disc 100, so that agreater amount of data can be recorded on the disc 100 on the assumptionthat defects may occur therein. Also, it is preferable, but notrequired, that the spare area is present at an end of a recording areaof the disc 100. Especially, in the case of a write-once disc 100, thespare area must be located at an end of a recording area of the disc 100so that slipping replacement can be performed while the spare area datais recorded starting from an inner part of the disc 100 continuingtoward the outer part.

In the shown embodiment, the spare area is present only between the userdata area and the lead-out area. If necessary, a portion of the userdata area may be used as another spare area. Specifically, according toanother embodiment, more than one spare area may be formed between theuser data area and the lead-out area.

FIG. 2B illustrates a disc 100 that has two record layers L0 and L1. Alead-in area, a data area, and an outer area are sequentially formedfrom an inner part of the first record layer L0 to its outer part. Also,an outer area, a data area, and a lead-out area are sequentially formedfrom an outer part of the second record layer L1 to its inner part.Unlike the single record layer disc 100 of FIG. 2A, the lead-out area ofthe second record layer L1 is present in the inner part of the secondrecord layer L1 of the disc 100 of FIG. 2B. That is, the disc 100 ofFIG. 2B has an opposite track path (OTP) in which data is recordedstarting from the lead-in area at an inner part of the first recordlayer L0 toward the outer area and continuing from the outer area of thesecond record layer L1 to the lead-out area at the inner part.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the structure of the disc 100embodiments shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Referring to FIG. 3, a DMA ispresent in at least one of the lead-in area, the lead-out area, and theouter area of the disc 100. Also, a temporary defect management area(TDMA) is formed in at least one of the lead-in area and the lead-outarea. A temporary defect information area is formed in the data area inpredetermined recording units.

In general, information which relates to managing defects on the disc100 is recorded in the DMA. Such information includes a structure of thedisc 100 for defect management, the position of the defect information,whether the defect management is performed, and the position and size ofthe spare area. For a write-once disc 100, new data is recorded afterpreviously recorded data when the previously recorded data changes. Ingeneral, when the disc 100 is loaded into a recording/reproducingapparatus such as that shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus reads data fromthe lead-in area and the lead-out area of the disc 100 to determine howto manage the disc 100 and record or read data on or from the disc 100.However, if the amount of data recorded in the lead-in area increases, alonger time will be spent preparing the recording or reproducing of thedata after loading the disc 100. Accordingly, an embodiment of thepresent invention proposes temporary defect management information andtemporary defect information.

Specifically, only the temporary defect management information, which iscomparatively more important than the temporary defect information, isrecorded in the lead-in area. The temporary defect information isrecorded in the data area. It is preferable, but not required, that newinformation is added to the previously recorded information in thetemporary defect information so that all recorded information isaccumulated therein. The recording/reproducing apparatus reads lastrecorded temporary defect information and detects defects throughout thedisc 100 based on the read result. Thus, information regarding thelocation of the last recorded temporary defect information is recordedin temporary defect management information area, where the temporarydefect management information is recorded.

More specifically, the information regarding a defect occurring in arecording unit #0 and information regarding a defect occurring in arecording unit #1 are recorded in the temporary defect managementinformation area #0 and the temporary defect management information area#1, respectively. Defect management information for managing thetemporary defect information areas #0, #1 is recorded in the temporarydefect management information area. If no more data can be recorded onthe disc 100 or if a user does not want to record more data on the disc100 (i.e., the disc 100 needs to be finalized), the temporary defectinformation recorded in the temporary defect information area and thetemporary defect management information recorded in the temporary defectmanagement information area are recorded in the DMA.

The reason for recording the temporary defect management information andthe temporary defect information in the DMA again will now be explained.When no more data will be recorded on the disc 100 (i.e., the disc 100needs to be finalized), the temporary defect management information,which has been updated several times, and the temporary defectinformation recorded in the data area are moved to the DMA of thelead-in area. Thus, it is possible to have faster reading of informationrecorded on the disc 100. Also, it is possible to increase thereliability of the information by recording the defect managementinformation in a plurality of areas.

In this embodiment, the defect information recorded in the temporarydefect information areas #0 through #i−1 is again recorded in temporarydefect information area #i. Therefore, it is sufficient to read thedefect information from the last temporary defect information area andto again record the read information in the DMA during the finalizationof the disc 100.

FIG. 4 illustrates structures of the disc 100 shown in FIG. 3. Referringto FIG. 4, the DMA is formed in at least one of the lead-in area, thelead-out area, and the outer area of the disc 100. When the disc 100 isthe single record layer disc 100 as shown in FIG. 2A, the DMA is formedin at least of one of the lead-in area and the lead-out area. When thedisc 100 is the double record layer disc 100 as shown in FIG. 2B, theDMA is formed in at least one of the lead-in area, the lead-out area,and the outer area of the disc 100. By way of example, if the disc 100has a single record layer L0, DMAs are formed in both the lead-in areaand the lead-out area, and if the disc 100 has two record layers L1, L0,DMAs are formed in the lead-in area, the lead-out area, and the outerarea.

After recording the user data in the data area according to recordingoperation #0, a temporary defect list (TDFL) #0, which is a temporarydefect information area corresponding to the recording operation #0, isdisposed in the data area. Information regarding a defect occurring inthe user data recorded according to the recording operation #0 isrecorded in the TDFL #0. Similarly, the user data according to recordingoperation #1 is recorded in the data area, and a TDFL #1, whichcorresponds to the recording operation #1, is disposed in the data area.A TDFL #2, which corresponds to recording operation #2, is also disposedin the data area.

Temporary disc definition structure (TDDS), which is the temporarydefect management information for managing the TDFLs #0 through #n, isrecorded in the temporary defect management information area. The TDDSs#0 through #n correspond to the TDFL #0 through #n, respectively. Usingthe TDDSs #0 through #n, it is possible to record whether a defect ismanaged, the size of the spare area, and information for managing TDFL#i in TDDS #i. Also, it is possible to record information regarding theposition of a defective area and the corresponding position of the sparearea, which is a substitute for the defective area, in a TDFL #i.

For a high-density disc on which information of several dozen GB bytescan be recorded, it is desirable, but not required, that a cluster isallocated to each TDDS #i, and four to eight clusters are allocated tothe TDFL #i. This allocation is because it is preferable to record newinformation in units of clusters in order to update information when aminimum physical unit of record is a cluster, although the amount ofTDDS#i, which is temporary defect management information, is justseveral K bytes. Meanwhile, it is preferable, but not required, that atotal amount of defects allowed in the disc 100 is about 5 percent ofthe disc recording capacity. For instance, the TDFL #i includes aboutfour to eight clusters considering that information of about 8 bytes isrequired to record information regarding a defect and the size of acluster is 64 Kbytes.

According to an aspect of the invention, the verify-after-write methodcan be performed in the TDDS #i and the TDFL #i. In this case, when adefect is detected, information is recorded again in the correspondingadjacent areas.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a process of recording a TDFL accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. Here, a unit of data may beprocessed in units of sectors or clusters. A sector denotes a minimumunit of data that is managed in a file system of a computer or anapplication, and a cluster denotes a minimum unit of data that can bephysically recorded on a disc at once. In general, one or more sectorsconstitute a cluster.

There are two types of sectors: a physical sector and a logical sector.The physical sector is an area where a sector of data is to be recordedon the disc 100. An address for detecting the physical sector is calleda physical sector number (PSN). The logical sector is a unit of sectorfor managing data in a file system or an application. An address fordetecting the logical sector is called a logical sector number (LSN). Adisc recording/reproducing apparatus such as that shown in FIG. 1detects the position of the data to be recorded on the disc 100 usingthe PSN, and the whole part of data is managed in units of the LSNs in acomputer or an application in order to record data on the disc 100. Therelationship between the LSN and the PSN is changed by the controller 2of the recording/reproducing apparatus, based on whether the disccontains a defect and an initial position of recording data.

Referring to FIG. 5, A denotes a data area in which the PSNs areallocated to a plurality of sectors (not shown) in ascending order. Ingeneral, each LSN corresponds to at least one of the PSNs, respectively.However, since the LSNs are allocated to sectors, except for a defectivesector, in ascending order, the correspondence between the PSNs and theLSNs is not maintained when the disc 100 has a defective area, even ifthe size of a physical sector is the same as that of a logical sector.

Referring to FIG. 5, 1010 through 1090 denote units of data by which averifying work is performed after a recording work. In detail, arecording apparatus records user data in section 1010, returns to thestart of the section 1010, and starts checking if the user data isappropriately recorded or a defect occurs in the section 1010. If adefect is detected, an area covering the defect and data recorded afterthe defect in the section 1010 is designated as defect #1. Next, therecording apparatus records the user data in section 1020, returns tothe start of the section 1020, and checks if the user data isappropriately recorded or a defect occurs in the start. If a defect isdetected, an area covering the defect and data recorded after the defectin the section 1020 is designated as defect #2. Likewise, defect #3 isdetermined in section 1030. However, since a defect is not detected insection 1040, a defective area is not determined in section 1040.

Because the disc 100 according to an embodiment of the present inventionis a write-once disc 100, it is desirable, but not required, that datarecorded after an area having a defect is not used and an area coveringdata recorded after the defect is determined to be a defective area aswell as the area covering the defect. Assuming that the LSN i isallocated to an area in which the data is recorded after an area havinga defect in order to use the data, an area in which data is recordedafter the area having the LSN i must be denoted as the LSN i−1 for datareproduction. However, if there is a section to which the LSNs are notallocated in ascending order, it is not easy to manage the logicsectors. Therefore, in this embodiment, all of data areas after adefective area are also regarded as being defective areas, therebyincreasing the efficiency of managing the logic sectors.

TDFL #0 is recorded in section 1050 when the recording operation #0 isexpected to end after the recording and verifying of the data in thesection 1040 (i.e., when a user presses an eject button of a recordingapparatus or recording of user data allocated in a recording operationis completed). The TDFL #0 contains information regarding the defects #1through #3 occurring in the sections 1010 through 1040. Similarly, TDFL#1 is recorded in sector 1090 to correspond to recording operation #1 tocontain information regarding defects #4 and #5 in sectors 1060 through1080. The TDFL #0 also contains information regarding a part of an areain which a user data is recorded according to the recording operation#0, where the part having a defect and thus being designated as adefective area. Also, the TDFL #1 contains information regarding a partof an area in which the user data recorded according to the recordingoperation #1, where the part having a defect is designated as anotherdefective area. While not required in all aspect, the TDFL #1 furthercontains the information recorded in the TDFL #0 according to an aspectof the invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate data structures of a TDFL according to anembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B,information regarding defects #1 through #3 is recorded in TDFL #0. Theinformation regarding the defect #1 describes the position of the defect#1, the information regarding the defect #2 describes the position ofthe defect #2, and the information regarding the defect #3 describes theposition of the defect #3. Further, information regarding TDFL #0, whichindicates the position of the TDFL #0, is further recorded in the TDFL#0.

Since the user data is not recorded in the TDFL #0, it is not requiredto read the information recorded in the TDFL #0 during reproduction ofthe user data. That is, for the reproduction of the user data, it ismeaningless to distinguish between defective area #i and the TDFL #0because the user data is not contained in these area. The TDFL #0contains the information regarding its position and thus can be used asuseful information, for example, to indicate during the reproduction ofthe user data that the user data is not recorded in the TDFL #0.

The TDFL #1 contains information regarding defects #4 and #5, inaddition to the information recorded in the TDFL #0. The TDFL #1 alsocontains information regarding the position of the TDFL #1 for the samereason that the position is indicated in the TDFL #0.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate the data structures of information regardingdefect #i contained a TDFL and information regarding TDFL #i. Referringto FIGS. 7A and 7B, the information regarding the defect #i includesinformation regarding the state, the start, reserved, and end positionsof the defect #i. In general, the state information is flag informationthat indicates whether a present area is a defective area in which adefect occurs or is a TDFL in which is recorded temporary defectinformation. In the information regarding the defect #i, the stateinformation is the flag information which indicates that the presentarea is a defective area. The start information represents the start ofthe present area (i.e., the start of the defect #i). The end informationrepresents the end of the present area (i.e., the end of the defect #i).The reserved is referred to as an area in which recording is pending torecord other information therein.

The information regarding the TDFL #i includes information regarding thestate of and the start, reserved, and end positions of the TDFL #i. Ingeneral, the state information is flag information that indicateswhether a present area is a defective area in which a defect occurs oris a TDFL in which is recorded temporary defect information. In theinformation regarding the TDFL #i, the state information is the flaginformation which indicates that the present area is a TDFL in which isrecorded temporary defect information.

FIG. 8 illustrates the data structure of temporary disc definitionstructure (TDDS) #i. Referring to FIG. 8, the TDDS #i includes anidentifier, defect management mode information, a drive informationpointer, a TDFL #i pointer, which points out the position of thecorresponding TDFL #i, a user data physical area pointer, a user datalogical area pointer, an optimal power control (OPC) pointer, and discusage information.

The defect management mode information indicates-whether defectmanagement is performed on the disc 100. For instance, the informationdescribes a spare area when defect management is performed and does notdescribe the spare area otherwise. If defect management is not required,the information provides this fact so that more user data can berecorded in the spare area, which otherwise uses about 5% of the discrecording capacity according to an aspect of the invention. The driveinformation pointer describes the location (e.g., the number of a firstphysical sector) of a drive information area (not shown) of the disc 100according to an aspect of the present invention.

Drive information is obtained by conducting a test on the disc 100 witha certain disc drive, allowing the test to be skipped when data is readfrom the disc 100, thereby rendering fast reading operations. In otherwords, the drive information is created to use a certain drive withouttesting the drive. In this embodiment, the drive information includesrecording conditions, such as an identifier of a used drive and theoptimum record power. In the case of a write-once disc, data is recordedin a new cluster whenever drive information is updated. Thus, ifinformation regarding an area of the disc 100 in which the next driveinformation is to be recorded is known in advance, it is possible toreduce time required to perform preliminary operations in order to reador reproduce data from or on the disc 100. For this reason, it is usefulto record such drive information on a disc.

The TDFL #i pointer indicates the position of an area of the disc 100where the TDFL #i is recorded (e.g., the number of a first physicalsector of TDFL #i). The user data physical area pointer indicates theend (e.g., the number of the last physical sector) of a data area inwhich user data is physically recorded. The user data logical areapointer indicates the end part (e.g., the number of the last logicalsector) of the data area in which user data is logically recorded. It ispossible to detect the start of the data area where recording of theuser data begins during a next recording operation, using the user dataphysical area pointer and the user data logical area pointer. The OPCpointer describes the location of a test area for detecting the optimumpower control. The OPC pointer can also be used as information thatprovides a next area available when different types of drives are drivenby different OPCs. The disc usage information specifies whether the disc100 is finalized (i.e., whether user data can be further recorded in thedata area).

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the data structure of TDFL #i.Referring to FIG. 9, the TDFL #i includes an identifier, a TDDS #ipointer, information regarding defect #n, information regarding defect#n+1, and so on. The information regarding defect #n includesinformation regarding start and end positions of defect #n in stateinformation.

The TDDS #i pointer indicates the position of an area in which isrecorded a corresponding TDDS #i. For instance, the TDDS #i pointer canindicate the number of a first physical sector of the TDDS #i.Information regarding the position of the TDFL #i included in the TDDS#i and information regarding the position of the TDDS #i included in theTDDS #i specify the positions of the TDFL #i and the TDDS #i which are apair of information. Thus, the above two different information can beused to verify the availability of information recorded in the TDFL #iand the TDDS #i.

The state information, which is the information regarding defect #n,describes whether a certain area is an actual defective area or an areawhere defect management information is recorded. The inclusion of theinformation regarding the defect #n into the state information isoptional. The information regarding the start and end positions of thedefect #n may be recorded with the number of a first physical sector andthe number of the last physical sector of the defective area,respectively. The information regarding defect #n+1 is also recordedusing the method of recording the information regarding the defect #n.

In an embodiment of the invention, the verify-after-write method isperformed for every several clusters. If the verify-after-write methodis performed for every single cluster, the size of an area, which isdesignated as a defective area, is determined to be a cluster, and thus,the number of the last physical sector of the area need not be recorded.

FIG. 10 illustrates the data structure of a disc definition structure(DDS) to be recorded in the DMA shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Referring toFIG. 10, the DDS includes an identifier, defect management modeinformation, a drive information pointer, a DFL pointer which specifiesthe position of a corresponding DFL, a user data physical area pointer,a user data logical area pointer, an OPC pointer, and disc usageinformation.

The defect management mode information indicates whether defectmanagement is performed. This information describes that a spare area isnot formed in the disc 100 according to the present invention when thedefect management is not performed, and describes that a spare area isformed otherwise. The drive information pointer specifies the positionof a drive information area (not shown) of the disc 100. For example,the drive information pointer can specify the number of a first physicalsector of the drive information area.

Drive information is obtained by conducting a test on the disc 100 witha certain drive, allowing the test to be skipped when data is read fromthe disc 100, thereby rendering fast reading operations. In other words,the drive information is created to use a certain drive without testingthe drive. In this embodiment, the drive information includes recordingconditions such as an identifier of a used drive and the optimum recordpower. In the case of a write-once disc, data is recorded in a newcluster whenever drive information is updated. Thus, if informationregarding an area of the disc 100 in which the next drive information isto be recorded is known in advance, it is possible to reduce timerequired to perform preliminary operations in order to read or reproducedata from or on the disc 100. For this reason, it is useful to recordsuch drive information on a disc.

The DFL pointer specifies the position of an area in which DFL isrecorded (e.g., the number of a first physical sector of the DFL). Theuser data physical area pointer indicates the end position of an area ofa data area in which user data is physically recorded (e.g., the numberof the last physical sector of the area in which the user data isrecorded). The user data logical area pointer indicates the end positionof an area of a data area in which user data is physically recorded(e.g., the number of the last physical sector of the area in which theuser data is recorded). With the user data physical area pointer and theuser data logical area pointer, it is possible to know the start of anarea in which user data is to be recorded during a next recordingoperation. The OPC pointer specifies the position of a test area fordetecting the optimum power control. The OPC pointer can also be used asinformation that provides a next area available when different types ofdrives are driven by different OPCs. The disc usage informationspecifies whether the disc 100 is finalized (i.e., whether user data canbe further recorded in the data area).

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of the data structure of a defect list(DFL) to be recorded in the DMA shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Referring toFIG. 11, the DFL includes an identifier, a DDS pointer, informationregarding defect #n, and information regarding defect #n+1. Theinformation regarding defect #n includes information regarding the startand end positions of defect #n in state information. Here, informationregarding defect #i may be information regarding the aforementioned TDFL#i.

The DDS pointer points out the position of an area in which acorresponding DDS is recorded (e.g., the number of a first physicalsector of the DDS). Information regarding the position of the DFLincluded in the DDS and information regarding the position of the DDSincluded in the DFL, specify the positions of the DFL and the DDS whichare a pair of information. Thus, the above two different information canbe used to verify the availability of information recorded in the DFLand the DDS.

The state information, which is the information regarding defect #n,describes whether a certain area is an actual defective area or an areawhere defect management information is recorded. The inclusion of theinformation regarding the defect #n into the state information isoptional. The information regarding the start and end positions of thedefect #n may be recorded with the number of a first physical sector andthe number of the last physical sector of the defective area,respectively. The information regarding defect #n+1 is also recordedusing the method of recording the information regarding the defect #n.

In an embodiment of the invention, the verify-after-write method isperformed for every several clusters. If the verify-after-write methodis performed for every single cluster, the size of an area, which isdesignated as a defective area, is determined to be a cluster, and thus,the number of the last physical sector of the area need not be recorded.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a disc defect management method according tothe present invention will be described.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a disc defect management methodaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.12, in action 1201, a recording apparatus records defect informationregarding data, which is recorded according to a first recordingoperation, as first temporary defect information in a data area of adisc, so as to perform disc defect management. In action 1202, therecording apparatus records the first temporary defect information anddefect information regarding data, which is recorded according to asecond recording operation, as second temporary defect information inthe data area. In action 1203, the recording apparatus records defectmanagement information for managing the first and second temporarydefect information in a temporary defect management information area. Indetail, action 1203 is performed by sequentially recording the firsttemporary defect information, the defect management information formanaging the first temporary defect information, the first temporarydefect management information, the second temporary defect information,the defect management information for managing the second temporarydefect information, and the second temporary defect managementinformation.

As described, the method only records two temporary defect informationand two temporary defect management information for the sakeconvenience. However, it is understood there is no limit to the numberof temporary defect information and defect management information whichcan be recorded. If the number is increased, temporary defectinformation is accumulatively recorded in the temporary defectmanagement information area (i.e., all of previously recorded temporarydefect information are recorded together with newly recorded temporarydefect information).

During finalization of the disc, a last recorded temporary defectinformation and temporary defect management information may be eithermoved from the temporary defect management information area to a defectmanagement area (DMA), or be maintained to be recorded in the temporarydefect management information area. If the latter location is selected,a disc drive accesses the temporary defect management information areaand reads the last recorded temporary defect information therefrom so asto detect a defective area of the disc.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a disc defect management methodaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 13, in action 1301, a recording apparatus records defectinformation regarding data, which is recorded according to a firstrecording operation, as first temporary defect information in a dataarea of a disc, so as to perform disc defect management. In action 1302,the recording apparatus records defect management information formanaging the first temporary defect information as first temporarydefect management information in a temporary defect managementinformation area which is present in at least one of a lead-in area anda lead-out area of the disc. In action 1303, the recording apparatusrecords the temporary defect information and defect informationregarding data, which is recorded according to a second recordingoperation, as second temporary defect information in the data area. Inaction 1304, the recording apparatus records management information formanaging the second temporary defect information as second temporarydefect management information in the temporary defect managementinformation area. In action 1305, it is checked whether finalization ofthe disc is required is checked.

In action 1306, if it is determined in action 1305 that finalization ofthe disc is not required, actions 1301 through 1304 are repeated whileincreasing indexes given to the recording operation, the temporarydefect information, and the temporary defect management informationby 1. It is understood that the indexing could be numbers other than 1or non-integers so long as the index changes so as to reflect differentrecording operations being performed. While not required in all aspects,all of previously recorded temporary defect information areaccumulatively recorded whenever new temporary defect information isrecorded.

In action 1307, if it is determined in action 1305 that the disc isrequired to be finalized, a last recorded one of temporary defectmanagement information and temporary defect information, which have beenrecorded until action 1305, are recorded in a defect management area(DMA). In other words, the last recorded temporary defect managementinformation and temporary defect information are recorded as finaldefect management information and defect information in the DMA. Thefinal defect management information and defect information may berepeatedly recorded to increase the reliability of data detection.

Further, the verify-after-write method may be performed on the finaldefect management information and defect information according to anembodiment of the invention. If a defect is detected from theseinformation, an area of the disc in which the defect occurs and datarecorded after the area having the defect may be regarded as beingunavailable (i.e., they are designated as a defective area), and thefinal defect management information and defect information may be againrecorded after the defective area. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating amethod of managing a defect in a disc according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 14, a recordingapparatus records user data on a data area of a disc in units of data tofacilitate the verify-after-write method, in action 1401. In action1402, the data recorded in action 1401 is verified to detect an area ofthe disc in which a defect exists. In action 1403, the controller 2 ofFIG. 1 creates information for designating an area covering the areahaving the defect and data recorded after the area having the defect, asa defective area. In action 1404, the controller 2 stores the createdinformation as first temporary defect information in the memory 3 ofFIG. 1. In action 1405, it is checked whether a recording operation isexpected to end. If it is determined in action 1405 that the recordingoperation is not likely to end, actions 1401 through 1404 are repeatedbefore the end of the recording operation.

In action 1406, if it is determined in action 1405 that the recordingoperation is likely to end (i.e., when the recording of the user data iscomplete by a user input or according to the recording operation), thecontroller 2 reads the first temporary defect information from thememory 3 and records the first temporary defect information in a firsttemporary defect information area TDFL #0 of the data area. In action1407, information for designating the first temporary defect informationarea TDFL #0 as a defective area is further recorded in the firsttemporary defect information area TDFL #0. In action 1408, thecontroller 2 records management information for managing the firsttemporary defect information area TDFL #0 as first temporary defectmanagement information TDDS #0 in a temporary defect managementinformation area.

In action 1409, it is checked whether the disc is to be finalized. Inaction 1410, if it is determined in action 1409 that the disc is notrequired to be finalized, actions 1401 through 1408 are repeated beforethe finalization while increasing indexes given to the temporary defectinformation, the temporary defect information area, and the temporarydefect management information by 1. Here, all of previously recordedtemporary defect information are accumulatively recorded whenever newtemporary defect information is recorded. It is understood that othernumbers (including non-integers) could be used for the index so long asthe index changes reflect different recording operations beingperformed.

In action 1411, if it is determined in action 1409 that finalization ofthe disc is required, a last recorded temporary defect information TDFL#i and temporary defect management information TDDS #i are recorded asfinal defect information DFL and defect management information DDS,respectively, in a defect management area (DMA). The final defectinformation (DFL) and defect management information (DDS) may berepeatedly recorded in the DMA several times so as to increase thereliability of data detection.

Further, the verify-after-write method may be performed on the finaldefect information (DFL) and final defect management information (DDS)according to an aspect of the invention. If a defect is detected fromthe DFL and DDS, an area covering an area of the disc in which thedefect occurs and data recorded after the area having the defect, may beregarded as being unavailable (i.e., be designated as a defective area),and the DFL and DDS may be again recorded after the defective area.

The aforementioned defect management may be embodied as a computerprogram that can be run by a computer. Codes and code segments, whichconstitute the computer program, can be easily reasoned by a computerprogrammer in the art. The program is stored in a computer readablemedium. When the program is read and run by a computer such as thecontroller 2 shown in FIG. 1, the defect management is performed. Here,the computer-readable medium may be on a magnetic recording medium, anoptical recording medium, a carrier wave medium or any other medium fromwhich a computer can recognize a program. Moreover, the computer can bea general or special purpose computer and can utilize the programencoded on firmware.

As described above, the present invention provides a defect managementmethod that is applicable to a recordable disc, such as a write-oncedisc. In the method, a temporary defect information area is included ina data area of a disc, and therefore, defect information isaccumulatively recorded in the temporary defect information arearegardless of the disc recording capacity. Also, during finalization ofthe disc, only temporary defect information is read from the lasttemporary defect information area and the read information is recordedin a DMA, thereby enabling efficient use of the DMA whose recordingcapacity is limited. Accordingly, it is possible to record user dataeven on a write-once disc while performing defect management thereon,thereby backup operations can be more stably performed withoutinterruptions.

In particular, a pointer, which specifies the position of acorresponding TDDS #i, is recorded in TDFL #i and a pointer, whichspecifies the position of TDFL #i, is recorded in the TDDS #i.Therefore, it is possible to crosscheck the relationship between theTDFL #i and the TDDS #i. For the same reason, it is possible tocrosscheck the relationship between a DDS and a DFL. Further, defectmanagement mode information is contained in the TDDS #i and the DDS andallows selective defect management, thereby successfully performingrecording operations irrespective of recording environment conditions.

In addition, it is understood that, in order to achieve a recordingcapacity of several dozen gigabytes, the recording and/or reproducingunit 1 shown in FIG. 1 could include a low wavelength, high numericalaperture type unit usable to record dozens of gigabytes of data on thedisc 100. Examples of such units include, but are not limited to, thoseunits using light wavelengths of 405 nm and having numerical aperturesof 0.85, those units compatible with Blu-ray discs, and/or those unitscompatible with Advanced Optical Discs (AOD).

While described in terms of a write-once disc, it is understood that themethod can be used with rewritable media or where the medium haswrite-once and rewritable portions.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in this embodiment without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A storage medium for use with a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, comprising: a defect management area in at least one of a lead-in area, a lead-out area, an outer area of the disc, or combinations thereof, and in which defect management information is recordable; a data area in which data is recorded; a temporary defect information area which is in the data area and which includes temporary defect information regarding the recorded data in the data area; and a temporary defect management information area which is in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area and which is used by the recording and/or reproducing apparatus to access the temporary defect information.
 2. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the storage medium is a multi-layer disc comprising a plurality of recording layers with each recording layer comprising a user data area.
 3. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the storage medium is a write-once disc having a property which prevents, after the data is recorded in an area of the disc, new data from being written to the area of the disc.
 4. A storage medium for use with a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the medium comprising: a recording layer which comprises a lead-in area, a data area, and a lead-out area; a temporary defect information area in the data area and which includes temporary defect information; and a temporary defect management information area in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area, and which includes temporary defect management information used by the recording and/or reproducing apparatus to manage the temporary defect information, wherein: the temporary defect management information includes a defect information pointer which specifies a position of the temporary defect information, and the temporary defect information includes a defect management information pointer which specifies a position of the temporary defect management information.
 5. The storage medium according to claim 4, further comprising a defect management area, wherein the storage medium is a finalized disc and the temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information recorded in an area of the storage medium other than the defect management area are further recorded in the defect management area.
 6. The storage medium according to claim 5, wherein the temporary defect information is last temporary defect information comprising defect position information accumulated from a first through a last recording operation.
 7. The storage medium according to claim 5, wherein the area is a temporary defect management area comprising the last temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information to manage the last temporary defect information, wherein the temporary defect management information is provided in a temporary defect management information area of the temporary defect management area.
 8. The storage medium according to claim 4, further comprising a temporary defect management area which comprises the temporary defect management information and the temporary defect information.
 9. The storage medium according to claim 8, wherein the temporary defect information is last temporary defect information comprising defect position information accumulated from a first through a last recording operation.
 10. The storage medium according to claim 8, wherein the temporary defect management information is provided in a temporary defect management information area of the temporary defect management area.
 11. The storage medium according to claim 4, further comprising: a lead-in area and/or a lead-out area disposed other than at the user data area, and a defect management area, wherein the defect management area is formed in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area.
 12. The storage medium according to claim 4, further comprising: a lead-in area and/or a lead-out area disposed other than at the user data area; and a temporary defect management area provided in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the storage medium; and a defect management area provided in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the storage medium, and comprising the temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information, wherein the storage medium is a finalized disc.
 13. The storage medium according to claim 4, wherein the storage medium is a multi-layer disc comprising a plurality of recording layers with each recording layer comprising a user data area.
 14. The storage medium according to claim 4, wherein the storage medium is a write-once disc having a property which prevents, after the data is recorded in an area of the disc, new data from being written to the area of the disc.
 15. A disc for use with a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the disc comprising: a user data area in which user data is recorded; temporary defect information comprising position information indicating to the recording and/or reproducing apparatus a position of a defective area of the user data area; and temporary defect management information to manage the temporary defect information, wherein the temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information used during a recording operation by the recording and/or reproducing apparatus in the performance of disc defect management.
 16. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the temporary defect management information comprises position information indicating to the recording and/or reproducing apparatus a position of the temporary defect information.
 17. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the temporary defect information is n^(th) recorded temporary defect information and comprises defect position information corresponding to first through n^(th) recording operations, wherein n is an integer.
 18. The disc according to claim 15, further comprising a defect management area, wherein the disc is a finalized disc and the temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information recorded in an area of the disc other than the defect management area are further recorded in the defect management area.
 19. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the temporary defect information is last temporary defect information comprising defect position information accumulated from a first through a last recording operation.
 20. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the area is a temporary defect management area comprising the last temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information to manage the last temporary defect information, wherein the temporary defect management information is provided in a temporary defect management information area of the temporary defect management area.
 21. The disc according to claim 15, further comprising a temporary defect management area which comprises the temporary defect management information and the temporary defect information.
 22. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the temporary defect information is last temporary defect information comprising defect position information accumulated from a first through a last recording operation.
 23. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the temporary defect management information is provided in a temporary defect management information area of the temporary defect management area.
 24. The disc according to claim 15, further comprising: a lead-in area and/or a lead-out area disposed other than at the user data area, and a defect management area, wherein the defect management area is formed in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area.
 25. The disc according to claim 15, further comprising: a lead-in area and/or a lead-out area disposed other than at the user data area; and a temporary defect management area provided in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the disc; and a defect management area provided in the lead-in area and/or the lead-out area of the disc, and comprising the temporary defect information and the temporary defect management information, wherein the disc is a finalized disc.
 26. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the disc a multi-layer disc comprising a plurality of recording layers with each recording layer comprising a user data area.
 27. The disc according to claim 15, wherein the disc is a write-once disc having a property which prevents, after the data is recorded in an area of the disc, new data from being written to the area of the disc. 